Their Own Jungleland
by Watertreker568
Summary: "In the quick of a knife, they reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand. But they wind up wounded, not even dead" Ianto is conflicted after the affair with Lisa. And there is only one person to blame: Jack. JANTO Songfic to "Jungleland"


Their own Jungleland

Short, cute(ish) Torchwood song-fic. Slight (Alright, LARGE) Janto scene. Takes place about three days after the "Lisa" problem. I do not own torchwood, any of the characters there of (if I did, do you think CoE would've gone that way?), or the song "Jungleland". That is owned by Bruce Springsteen. Mildly drabble-y.

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Jack stood on the scaffolding branching out from the side of the water tower. Dawn was just about to crest over the horizon, marking the start of a new day. Provided, according to society, the new day had started to tick at midnight – but that was chronological time. For years now, Jack had been working off of natural time. If his body started to feel fatigued, that meant he actually had to sleep for a couple of minutes. If he started to feel hungry, then he'd just shrug it off until he couldn't stand up anymore. It had stopped mattering what time of day (or night) it was when he finally got back to the hub. 200 years would do that to a person.

He felt someone else's presence behind him, walking steadily on the meager surface. Jack sighed, glancing sideways at the visitor. Ianto didn't look at him, instead, standing at the corner opposite him, staring into the distance. He didn't so much as blink in acknowledgment at his superior, just standing with his feet too close together for Jack's liking. It would have been too easy for the inexperienced agent to be knocked off by the wind. Though, he must have known that.

"You shouldn't be up here." Jack warned him, but the young man shrugged it off. "I would be really sad if you fell off and we had to get a new coffee boy."

"Is that all I am then?" Ianto asked. Jack almost took a step back, and off the thin support beam. The voice that had snapped back at him was hard, blank. If he didn't know better, he would've said Ianto sound angry. But that would have been impossible. Ianto never showed any emotion, and when he did, it was the smallest amount possible.

"I was just saying," Jack tried to mend, daring to take a couple steps over the cross-beam towards the young man. "You should be more careful." Ianto glared at him through the corner of his eye. "It isn't really safe to be this high up for normal people."

"You come up here all the time." Ianto retorted. Jack smiled.

"Well, I'm not exactly normal people." Ianto sighed, but still didn't move. Nor did he try to steady himself against the racing wind at this altitude, Jack noted.

Weakly, he resumed watching the city laid out before them. Almost without conscious thought, he started to hum a song he had learned at some point. Ianto finally looked at him, seeming to notice the captain's sentience for the first time in weeks.

"What's that?" He asked, obviously curious. Jack grinned wryly, watching the now talkative Ianto through his peripheral vision.

"It's just a song I learned a while ago." He sighed. "You probably don't know it. Too old."

"Well, who's it by?" Ianto asked, clearly beginning to be aggravated by Jack's antics.

"Bruce Springsteen." Jack replied, shrugging.

"I know him." The junior agent asserted, surprising him. "So what's the title?"

Jack smirked, stepping closer to the other man. Well, if he wanted to talk, who was he to complain? "Jungleland."

On an impulse, Jack found himself singing the lyrics he had memorized decades ago quietly, then louder as his voice strengthened.

**The Rangers had a homecoming  
In Harlem late last night  
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine  
Over the Jersey state line  
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge  
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain  
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants  
Together they take a stab at romance  
And disappear down Flamingo Lane**

Ianto blinked, fixing his gaze on the far horizon. He wasn't surprised at how old of a song his superior knew. Hell, the man practically had to be reminded that Berlin was one city again. So it wasn't that odd that he had memorized the words to an ancient song.

But Ianto hadn't expected him to just start singing the thing out loud. More than that, he hadn't expected that the captain would be able to sing – and sing well. **Really** well.

Jack stopped, and Ianto could swear he saw the man blushing. Why was he embarrassed? He was a full grown man, the leader of an underground agency, yet he was blushing over something as simple as singing?

"Sorry." His commander apologized, grinning sheepishly at Ianto. He swallowed, breaking eye contact as he felt the flush of red working its way up his neck. "I didn't mean to just…"

"It's fine." Ianto managed to shrug through his clenched fists. Then, after a second of hesitation, he added, "Sir."

He killed Lisa. He shot the one woman Ianto had loved. He had just killed her, without even trying to help.

**He saved Ianto's Life.** He protected the younger man at the same time, as he was fighting for his own life. Jack could have just left him to die, and gotten everyone else out of the base. But the captain had chosen to make sure that he got out alive, even if it wasn't the life he necessarily wanted at the moment.

Jack had risked his life for Ianto's. Was there anything more that he could do to repay him, other than try to look the man in the eye?

Raising his gaze, Ianto met Jack's eye, holding the contact there for a moment before he was forced to pull away. Shuddering, he resumed watching the skyline, trying to bite back the emotion welling up inside his chest.

The verse rang through Ianto's mind, making his memories return, causing him even more guilt than he already had. The first time the two of them had met, and how Ianto had followed Jack to the middle of the woods. He had just wanted to talk, to somehow find a comrade who could help him take care of his half-cyberised girlfriend. Instead, he had gotten himself caught up in a frenzy of blood and a pissed off weevil. Letting Jack leave, with just a bad flirt about his coat to remember the young British man for made him feel ridiculous, but there was nothing much he could have done. Following him back to where he had left the SUV would have just been weird, and Jack had a sedated Weevil to deal with. Then, when Ianto followed Jack to Torchwood, standing outside the small entrance for hours before the captain finally left. Again, just intending to talk to him, and again, he found himself unable to really say what he wanted to. Once more, he let the man walk away from him, having been only able to make the same stupid comment on his coat.

But then had come the final time they had met before Ianto finally got himself hired. Jack had nearly run him over with the SUV, then threatened to do just that if Ianto continued to follow him around the city. But Ianto had wanted to do more than continue to ask for Jack's help.

'_So, you don't want to help me catch this pterodactyl then?'_

He smiled softly to himself, attracting the attention of the man standing next to him.

"Do I want to know what you're thinking about that's got you smiling finally?" Jack wondered, making Ianto's heart race.

"Just remembering when we got the pterodactyl, sir." He admitted, his body growing strangely warm at the memory. Jack nodded, clearly going through that same night's events from the smile on his face.

"I can see why." The older man shrugged, then laughed. "That was really stupid of me, to go chasing after a dinosaur with a half-full syringe, wasn't it?"

Ianto nodded, his mouth opening before he registered the action. "Technically, it would be classified as a flying reptile, not a dinosaur. Sir."

"Yeah, you're right. Guess schools weren't all that thorough in my time, huh?" Jack grinned, making Ianto's mind boil in hormones that were seeping into his brain. Why did he have to be so damn attracted to the one person he should hate until he died?

**Well, the Maximum Lawmen run down Flamingo  
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl  
And the kids 'round there live just like shadows  
Always quiet, holding hands  
From the churches to the jails  
Tonight all is silence in the world  
As we take our stand  
Down in Jungleland**

Jack blinked back tears, refusing to look at the mournful figure next to him. For his entire life, he had done nothing except regulate the behaviors of other people. Now, he had stepped out of line with that authority. Dozens of times, he had used his badge as a disguise for who, or what, was pulling the trigger.

But what had hit the war seasoned agent harder than anything else was Ianto. Little Ianto Jones – the boy from London who just couldn't keep away. He had never suspected the kid could be hiding something. That was what he deserved, for not bothering to communicate with his staff. He had to make an effort to talk to them, maybe even form bonds. But bonds were what hurt more than anything else.

The recoil when the bonds snapped was worse than when he died.

What Jack had to do now was get rid of the badge. He had to forget the authority for a while. Ianto needed someone to talk to, and Jack had to become that person. He had to change from the lawman to the shadowed child.

The Immortal swallowed, reluctant to do just what he had decided. It had been decades since he had forced that onto himself, to remember that – to remember THEM. But he had to. The world might need its bold, shining captain, but right now, Ianto was more important than the damn world. And Ianto needed a friend, not an authority figure.

The planet could wait until he was able to look at the young man without blood pouring over his hands again.

**The midnight gang's assembled  
And picked a rendezvous for the night  
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign  
That brings this fair city light  
Man, there's an opera out on the Turnpike  
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley  
Until the local cops, Cherry-Tops, rips this holy night  
The street's alive as secret debts are paid  
Contacts made, they vanish unseen  
Kids flash guitars just like switchblades  
Hustling for the record machine  
The hungry and the hunted  
Explode into rock 'n' roll bands  
That face off against each other out in the street  
Down in Jungleland**

Why couldn't Ianto Just come out and say what he wanted to? Again, Ianto stared fixedly at the skyline, his heart racing as the words caught up with him.

The City. The chaos, the pain that he – that they all – felt. Their Job, tearing apart any relationship. Why had he thought that this chance might be any different? Torchwood London had even forbidden anyone working there from having romantic relationships with civilians. He could at least thank Jack for that small mercy. He had let Gwen keep her boyfriend. Ianto wasn't sure how he felt about that. Why was the new girl allowed to be happy with the person she loved, while he had to drown in pain? Again, the American's song came back to them. How could the most conglomerated, screwed up country currently in existence be so adept at hitting so hard?

Did Ianto really still care about Lisa, after all she had done? He hadn't told anyone what department she worked in, and for good reason. No one would have been sympathetic towards her had they known what she was involved in.

The Two Torchwoods, and how they had felt about each other; almost like rival gangs, fighting each other at every opportunity. How many times had Ianto heard his superiors at London use the damned 'Captain Jack Harkness' as a curse? They hated him, they had hated his methods, and most of all – oh, yes, definitely most of all, they had despised the changes Jack had made to his style. He had put a stop to the motto 'if it's alien, it's ours.' Few people knew what Yvette had intended to be the other half of that phrase. '… To do what we please.'

Jack still had a soul left. He never showed it, but the man still cared. Anyone who hurt an alien was five seconds from being locked up indefinitely as far as the captain was concerned. That was one of the things that made Ianto lo- **Like** Him. The man could see the fact that the creatures coming through the rift had life in them. They deserved just as much respect as any human. It was what London had forgotten, that Cardiff had picked up.

The aliens that came through the rift were one of the biggest challenges that Ianto had had to tackle when he first came there. Always fighting, always sacrificing one of their own, so that there could be survivors. They were the mysterious figures, appearing in the middle of the night, leaving no witnesses of their activities. It had always been Ianto's job to clean up after the team. He liked it. But he also wanted something more. The only reason he had ever joined Torchwood London was so that he could support the feeble remains of his family. Jack wouldn't – he couldn't understand. The man never said a word about his feelings, above 'you're cute.'

He was like the leader of a rival gang, just like Springsteen said. Every fight they had ever had was planned, almost coordinated. As if they intended to end up in that place at that exact moment. Gwen always had to get between the two of them, like the good little copper she was. How could the woman keep such a level head, when every night she went home and lied to the man she loved?

Did Ianto just want to be a background player, someone who only got two lines in the script before they died? Was he content to be the dividing factor of Torchwood? It always seemed like him and Jack, London and Cardiff. Oil and water.

But when oil and water mixed, it just took a little air pressure for it to ignite brighter than the stars.

Wasn't that what every mother told their child? They'll either follow exactly like their own parent's did, and find a carbon copy of their father, or someone so completely different…

They were exactly the same.

Ianto's heart raced, as he pivoted to face the man next to him. He would have given anything he had left to know what was on Jack's mind. Then, to his complete amazement, a single, irreplaceable tear rolled from his superior's eye.

**In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage  
Inside the backstreet girls are dancing to the records that the DJ plays  
Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners  
Desperate as the night moves on  
Just one look and a whisper, and they're gone**

Jack glanced over at the young man through the corner of his eye. How many times had that been him, standing so high up, struggling between jumping off and living? How many times had he come up here with one intention, to just take one step further, let himself be dragged by the unrelenting force of gravity, until he finally met with his demise? There were so many people he had lost, so many people he had killed – was Lisa any different from the hundreds of aliens he had murdered over his years at torchwood? Even before that, before the Doctor, before he became a freak, the blood of his childhood.

He sighed, slamming his eyes closed so he couldn't see Ianto's reaction. Jack shuddered, tears scraping the very edges of his soul. Why? Why had he let himself come to this?

Grey, Dad, John, Roderick, Fitch, Lynda with a Y, Alex, Alice, Emily, Suzie, The controller, Colleen, Jackie, Mickey – gods, why couldn't the Doctor call him by his proper name for one in his life? – Rose … There had been so many already. And now Lisa.

Each name had torn a piece out of him, and now, he was left abandoned and alone wanting to do nothing more than fall into a misshapen heap at the bottom of the building. Who would bother to stop him, after all he had done? He deserved to die. He deserved to have every single living creature on the planet hate him – and many of the dead ones.

The people whose names he could remember stung even worse than those he couldn't, because that meant that he had been close enough for the bond they had to mean something worthwhile. Why did he have to be cursed with this? He was sick – He made people sick. It was the fatality of loving him, making him poisonous to anyone stupid enough to say yes. Why?

"Why?" he sobbed, barely loud enough to be heard over the roaring wind, urging the unsteady man to slide off of the scaffolding. He wouldn't die – no, he NEVER died. But he would finally get a break. The voices wouldn't haunt him if he was dead.

'_Jack…'_

'_Jacky…'_

'_You said they wouldn't come down here! You said we were safe!...'_

'_Jack, Help me, Please!...'_

"_Jack, Please!...'_

'_Now you have a chance, Jack…'_

'_This is my gift to you Jack… you were right…'_

'_Jack! You lied! The bullets don't work!...'_

'_Take your brother, and don't let him go!...'_

'_Don't leave me!...'_

'_I have brought your doom…'_

'_I don't care who you are, just take care of my Rose…'_

'_Hey, cap'in' Cheesecake…'_

'_Jack, don't say that. The doctor will find a way…' _

'_Captain…'_

"Sir?" Ianto's voice called out to him. His heart racing, Jack turned to face the other man, weakly meeting his eyes. Tears blurred his vision, but he could still see the shock on Ianto's face.

"Yeah?" he wondered, wanting nothing more than to just be left alone. Why had he let the child get to him like that? But then again… what was Jack inside, besides a little boy who had been forced to grow up much, much too fast.

"You're crying." Ianto stated, approaching him. Jack looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. He didn't intend for the tears to come so hard or so fast, but they had. Why? Why had he even considered doing this to himself, forcing himself to remember EVERY single creature he had killed, the ones he had pulled the trigger for or even the ones he could have avoided? Everyone he had shot during the wars, everyone he had lied to towards a fatal end, everyone he could have stepped between the bullet and them for, everyone he had loved, and then left alone in the middle of the night.

Then his eyes refocused on Ianto, standing inches in front of him. Jack swallowed, staring pointedly at the ground. He had done this for Ianto.

Now the young man had seen him cry. Now he knew Jack was still human.

**Beneath the city, two hearts beat  
Soul engines running through a night so tender  
In a bedroom locked in whispers  
Of soft refusal and then surrender**

Ianto sighed, clenching his teeth. Why? Why the hell did the God his parents had tried so damn hard to convince him existed, have to be this cruel?

Why did he have to feel like this about the one person he should despise more than anything? Why did he have this uncontrollable urge to – Ianto froze, unable to place where the thought that had just entered his head had come urge – the urge to – the NEED to –

The young man swallowed, realizing that his feet had brought him within inches of Jack. Why had he done that? When – how had he not noticed he was moving? What was wrong with him?

Jack blinked at him, his dark, haunted eyes just starting to clear. Just then, Ianto felt the overwhelming need to be closer. His heart stopped dead as his body did just that. Jack watched him, almost as if he was terrified to do anything else.

With trembling fingers, Ianto reached out, unable to do anything other than stare in horror at the man in front of him. Weakly, his shaking hand clasped Jack's. Jack froze, as if unsure of what to do for the first time in his life. Ianto gave a small, apologetic smile, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

**In the tunnels uptown, the Rat's own dream guns him down  
As shots echo down them hallways in the night  
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away  
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light**

Jack shivered, gazing into the soft, tender blue eyes he had seen so many times. But this time, it was like he was just meeting those pupils for the first time. Slowly, almost as though time itself had paused, Ianto leaned closer to him. Jack's heart pounded hard enough to shatter his ribcage when his mind managed to catch up with the thoughts racing ahead of it. Then, reality slapped him in the head, and Jack's pulse resonated through his ears. Ianto's face was so close to his…

Jack watched, his mind dead numb as Ianto's perfectly shaped lips parted, barely enough to allow one phrase of melodic welsh syllables to slip out.

"This is what I wanted to do when we caught the Pterodactyl."

At that moment, Jack felt Ianto's lips press against his own.

**Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz  
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy  
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all  
They just stand back and let it all be**

The planet could burn, but it wouldn't accomplish anything.

The little, pointless voice returned to his mind, sneering at him. He was kissing someone. He was kissing a MAN. He was kissing his **boss**. He was kissing the bastard that had killed Lisa – the woman he loved, and who was supposed to love him back. He was kissing the man that had shot his future fiancé, without so much as an apology or a clear regret.

Lisa was supposed to be the woman he loved. She was supposed to be the woman he married, and started a family with. They – HE was supposed have children, to carry on an age old family line into the future.

But here he was, little Ianto Jones. The kid from London. The Boy who just couldn't keep away. He was _kissing _Captain Jack Harkness. The ultimate enemy of torchwood London. Likely one of the most powerful men alive. His superior officer. A man. Potentially the best human alive to this day. Ianto was kissing another man, and enjoying it. More than that, Jack was returning the kiss. So Ianto did something he never had before.

He shut out the little voice.

**And in the quick of a knife, they reach for their moment  
And try to make an honest stand  
But they wind up wounded, not even dead  
Tonight in Jungleland**

Finis~

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So, did you like it? Please, review. I will love you forever if you do!


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